E 670 

• S74 
no. 2 
Copy 1 



U13 /Ob 5Z1 A 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



E 670 


.S74 


no. 2 


Copy 1 






SPIRIT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 



Number Two. 



THE CANDIDATES, AND THE DOCTMNES OF THE TWO 

PARTIES. 



Democratic. 

, SEYMOUR. 

" The Montgomery Constitution is better than 

the Federal. Let us secede with the South;' — 

Remarks to Judge Haggles in 1861. 

" To restore the Union by force is as great a 
wrong as to destroy it by force." — Twiddle Hall 
Speech. 

■• j\ mob can revolutionize as well as a govern- 
ment." — Fourth of July Speech. 

" The war is a failure. Let hostilities cease." 
— Chicago Platform 1864, drawn by Seymour and 
Vallgndigha7n. 

My Friends, " I have come down here from 
the country to stop this draft." — To the New 
York Rioters in 1863. 



Republican. 

GRANT. 

" I have nothing to do with opinions." — Pro- 
clamation on entering Kentucky. 

" I propose to move immediately on your 
works." — At Donelson. 

" Unconditional surrender." — Vicksburg, 

" I propose to fight it out on this line if it 
takes all summer." — Spottsylvania. 

" So long as these rebel prisoners observe their 
paroles I will protect them." — To A. Johnson. 

" This is a country in which the will of the 
people must prevail." — To A. Johnson. 

"LET US HAVE PEACE." 



THE TWO PLATFOKMS. 



The Democratic platform begins by recogniz- 
ing slavery and secession as " settled for all time 
to come by the war and the Voluntary action of 
the Southern States." Reconstruction has also 
been " settled for all time to come, by the volun- 
tary action," nut of apart, but of the whole South- 
ern people. The consent of the whole people is 
obtained by universal suffrage. Why do not the 
Democratic party recognize reconstruction as set- 
tled ? They will after the next election. 

The Democratic platform demands the immedi- 
ate restoration of the Southern States to the Un- 
ion. Seven of the ten have been restored to the 
Union by the votes of Republicans, every Demo- 
crat in Congress voting against their restoration, 
and a President, whose conduct is approved by 
the Democratic party, vetoing it i 



The Republican platform congratulates the 
country on the adoption by the Southern States 
of constitutions which secure equal civil and po- 
litical rights to all, and guaranties to maintain 
equal suffrage for all loyal men in the Southern 
States, and to have the question of suffrage iu 
the loyal Stairs to the people. 

That is right. We send an army into the 
South to keep the peace, but at the North the 
people can keep the peace without an army ; so 
we grant universal suffrage at the South, in 
order to get a constituency who will vote for 
union, liberty and peace. We tried to get the 
rebels to vote for these things, and they would 
not; so we give the ballot to those who will. Is 
there anything wrong in securing union, freedom 
and peace by universal suffrage? 



SPIRIT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 



E^6 70 



Democratic. 

The IVth Article of the Democratic platform 
demands 

"Equal taxation of every species of property, including 
Government bonds and other public securities." 

This is the old Democratic cry for direct taxa- 
tion on real estate, lands and houses, of which 
Horatio Seymour has always been an advocate. 
The Convention thought the speediest way to set 
the current of public opinion running toward re- 
pudiation would be to levy all taxes directly on 
lands and houses, i. e., on fixed capital, instead of 
on business and income. But are the farmers 
and property -holders anxious to be driven into 
repudiation by taxing equally the principal of 
property that earns nothing, or but very little, and 
property that earns two hundred per cent. ? It 
is the most unequal taxation possible, and would 
drive any country into repudiation that should 
resort to it. 

Look at its absurdity. Whiskey worth to pro- 
duce forty cents per gallon, has been taxed $2 per 
gallon, or 500 per cent., and nobody proposes to 
tax it less than 100 per cent. In demanding that 
Government bonds and whiskey be taxed equally, 
the Democrats must either mean to tax the bonds 
100 per cent., which destroys their value, or 
whiskey from one to six per cent., which would 
lose from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 of revenue 
per annum. 

The platform demands " one curremcy " for all. 
Well, whieh currency? If gold, then how will it 
pay off the bonds in greenbacks ? If greenbacks, 
then how will it pay the bonds which are express- 
ly payable in coin ? 



(and the answers thereto.) 
The platform advocates payment of the bonds 
in greenbacks, unless they are made expressly 
pay-able in coin. 

1. This is impossible. A greenback is a debt 
of the United States as truly as a bond. Hence 
the Government would owe the same amount 
after it had given greenbacks for its bonds that 
it does now. 

2. It u illegal. The bonds promise to pay 
"dollars." < )nly gold and silver coins are dol- 
lars by law. Greenbacks are not dollars, but 
only promises to pay dollars. In reality, there- 
fore, all the national bonds are expressly payable 
in coin, though that word is not used. 



Republican. 

The Republican platform denounces " all forma 
of repudiation as a national crime," and declares 
that " the national honor requires the payment of 
the public indebtedness in the uttermost good 
faith to all creditors, at home and abroad, not 
only according to the letter but the spirit of the 
laws under which it was contracted." There is 
no pecuniary advantage in forcing an exchange 
of greenbacks for the debt to compensate for the 
dishonor it would inflict on the country. Our 
five-twenties can now be bought in by the Gov- 
ernment for 72 in gold or 107 in currency. It 
would be in its power, therefore, if it had the 
currency, to buy the debt for greenbacks by pay- 
ing seven per cent., or one year's interest. This 
is a discount of 28 per cent, in gold from the face 
of the bonds. But the Government is at present 
just as unable to pay the debt in greenbacks as 
in gold. It is this inability that causes the differ- 
ence in value. When the Government becomes 
able to pay the debt in either gold or greenbacks, 
the greenbacks' will have risen to par with gold, 
and there will be nothing left of the question. 
Economically, therefore, the question is of no 
present, and of very trifling future consequence. 
It is a mere handle for demagogues. But we 
have sufficient faith in the integrity of the Amer- 
ican people to believe that no public creditor 
will ever be forced to take greenbacks for hia 
bonds. 

The Republican party pledges itself to protect 
the rights of naturalized citizens in foreign coun- 
tries, and has been steadily and successfully ma- 
turing laws and negotiating treaties for that pur- 
pose. Gen. Grant has always advocated a vigor- 
ous foreign policy. 

GENERAL GRANT. 

1. He " has no policy to oppose against the will of the 
people." 

2. He is the unanimous choice of all loyal citizens. 

3. He is the most available candidate for the times. 

4. He did not seek the office, it sought him. 

5 Having saved the country from ruin, lie can moat safe- 
ly be trusted to guard it-i destinies. 

6. His being at the head of the nation would be sufficient 
to deter traitors from again rebelling against the Govern- 
ment. 

T. His antecedents prove that he will conduct our nation- 
al affairs on the most economical basis. 

8 instead of talking he lets his works sound his praises. 

9. He has the will I" command, and nerve to enforce the 
rights of our naturalized citizens abroad. 

ID Having risen himself from the humblest walks of life, 
he can appreciate the wants of the laboring classes. 

11. The party which opposes Mm Is made up of rebels, 
Government defaulters, and old, played-out politicians. 

12. His loyalty la unquestionable, hi-* honesty proverbial, 
his military ability historical, and his sterling good sense 
undeniable. 

18. We know the desires of our rebel brothers and pro- 
pose to grant them. 



SPIRIT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 



Democratic. 

3. It is a cheat.. The dollars which the bond 
promises to pay are worth 40 per cent, more than 
the " lawful money," which they do not promise 
to pay. 

4. It is needless. When we are able to pay the 
debt at all, greenbacks will be worth as much as 
gold. 

.">. // is base. The national bonds are mainly 
<iwned by the savings banks and life insurance 
companies, on which the savings and homes of 
the poor depend for their security from loss and 
tin 1 , and by widows and orphans, and the friends 
of America abroad. They are not held by rich 
capitalists. Why should we wish to cheat those 
who lent their monej 7 to save the nation in its 
hour of peril? Would it be economy to do so, 
in view of the fact that should Seymour and Blair 
be elected, another year may place the country 
in peril again ? 

6. It would be disastrous. The issue of green- 
backs to the whole amount of our national debt 
would run their value down to five cents on the 
dollar — would run gold up to 1000 — and in the 
general wreck would ruin every business man in 
the country. It is .the air line, broad gauge, 
through route without stop or change of cars, to 
financial ruin for the Government and the peo- 
ple. It is going " across lots " to destruction. 



Republican. 

The Republican platform declares — 

"V. The national debt, contracted as it has been for the 
preservation of the Union for all time to come, should be 
extended over a fair period for redemption ; and it is the 
duty of Congress to reduce the rate of interest thereon 
whenever it can honestly lie done." ' 

According to statistics afforded by the United 
States census, and cited in Mr. McCulloch's Re- 
port for 1865, the average annual earnings of the 
real and personal estate of the country are 28 per 
cent, on the principal. At the average, there- 
fore, the money that would be taken from the 
tax-payers to pay off the principal of the debt is 
earning 28 per cent, to the owners. The debt 
itself is running at an interest of from 6 to 10 
per cent., counting the gold interest in currency. 
If the tax-payers had the means with which to 
pay off, each his share of, the nalional debt, they 
would make from 18 to 22 per cent, more by re 
tabling their means in their business than by 
using it to pay off the debt. 

Recognizing the disastrous effect upon the tax- 
payers of too rapidly paying the debt, it demands 
only the extension of its payment over a lair 
period for redemption, and a reduction of -its rate 
of interest. Is not this fair and wise ? 



OF THE DEBT, TAXATION, &c. 



The Democratic party bequeathed us a bank- 
rupt treasury and civil war. This civil war 
made it necessary to contract debt, and taxation 
followed. Their disloyalty trebled the debt. 
Their present threats of repudiation and revolu- 
tion enhance our taxes, increase our rates of in- 
terest by depreciating the national credit, keep 
the country in anarchy and unrest, and postpone 
the day of peace and financial security. 



They put down the rebellion with a less 
expenditure of money than has ever attended a 
similar war, and borrowed money in the height 
of the struggle at a less rate of interest than 
was possible when Buchanan's administration 
closed. They have voted in Congress and at the 
polls in favor of retrenchment and against ex- 
cessive taxation to the furthest limit consistent 
with national honor and financial safety. 



Their proposition to pay the national debt in 
greenbacks, would cause an issue of $2,000,000,- 
000 of currency. This would depreciate the 
value of every greenback dollar to 20 cents in 
gold, would send up gold to 500, and all other 
prices accordingly, throwing the country into the 
wildest fever of speculation and gambling. It 
would then be true of the greenbacks as it was 
luring the rebellion of the confederate notes, that 
ve would need to take our money to market in 



By bringing our bonds and currency up to par, 
specie payments both by the Government and 
the people would naturally resume themselves, 
gold would return to the channels of trade, and 
as this would increase the volume of our currency 
by $200,000,000, and at the same time restore it 
to soundness, our depreciated currency, with all 
its attendant mischiefs, is another consequence of 
Democratic policies and threats of repudiation. 



SPIRIT OF THE CAMPAIGN. 



Democratic. 

a basket, and return with the meat it would buy 
in our pocket-books. Then whets the paper mo- 
ney bubble had burst, our currency would be re 
pudiated, and we would have to fall back on gold 
and silver only, which would be a contraction of 
the currency from $60 to $5 to each person. 
Every one must see that such unprecedented 
changes would ruin every business man, every 
tanner, every mechanic, every working man in 
the country, and would really benefit nobody. 
The nation would stand forever disgraced. The 
next time a rebellion should be begun against its 
Government, the rebels, would enjoy a better 
credit than the Government, since the late rebels 
repudiated their debt by compulsion, while the 
Government did so from choice. Being unable 
to borrow on any terms, it could not resist the 
first effort made to overthrow it. 



The defaultings of George Saunders, Jacob 
Thompson and others, and the gigantic system 
of public stealing practised by John B. Floyd 
and the Democratic leaders when they were last 
in power, warn the people against allowing them 
again to get access to the public purse. 



Now, while they pretend to desire economy, 
their threats of revolution and repudiation de- 
stroy the national credit, lower the value of our 
currency, and so increase the amount of the prin- 
cipal and interest of the debt and the burden of 
taxation. 



The debt was increased during the last year of 
the war by $1,200,000,000, or nearly half its pres- 
sent total. The rebels would never have stocd 
out during this last year, if the Democratic party 
of the North had come up to the support of the 
war and of tin- Union. 



To their Chicago peace platform, therefore, 
indebted for the fact that the debt is 
as great as it would have been but for 
their political course in 1864. 



Republican. 

They have collected and expended the enor- 
mous amounts required for the suppression of the 
rebellion without defaults, or failures to account 
for, and pay the moneys entrusted to the hands 
of the officers of the Government. 

Have reduced the debt by $250,000,000 since 
the war closed, at which rate the whole debt would 
be paid off in 20 years, and have largely reduced 
the expenditures of the Government. The entire 
expenditures of the bureau for freedmen (black) 
and refugees (white), about which so much is 
said, amount to only $5,617,000 from its organi- 
zation in 1866 to the present time. About half 
of this expense has been incurred in behalf of 
white refugees driven from their homes by rebels. 
The entire expenses of carrying out the recon- 
truction acts were, to June 30th, 1868, $2,334,. 
700. The whole expense of reconstruction and 
the Freedmen's Bureau are less than a fourth of 
the cost of the. Democratic riots got up in New 
York by Horatio Seymour and his friends to stop 
the drafts in 1863. 

The Grant Republican platform proclaims that 
the Public Faith pledged to the Nation's credi- 
tors must be sacredly maintained, adding, in 
words that should be inscribed in letters of gold 
over ever}' mantel : 

"THAT THE BEST POLICY TO DIMINISH OUR 
BURDEN OF DEBT IS TO SO IMPROVE OUR CREDIT 
THAT CAPITALISTS WILL SEEK TO LOAN US MONET 
\T LOWER RATES OP INTEREST THAN WE NOW 
PAY AND MUST CONTINUE TO PAY SO LONG AS 
REPUDIATION, PARTIAL OR TOTAL, OPEN OR CO- 
VERT, IS THREATENED OR SUSPECTED." 

But for the present repudiation policies of the 
Democratic party the national credit would 
stand as high as that of England, i. e., we could 
borrow the whole principal of the debt at three 
per cent, interest, instead of at six, and our bonds 
and currency would be worth from 94 per cent, 
to par in gold, instead of being worth only fro a 
70 to 72. By saving half the interest on our na- 
tional debt we would reduce our annual taxation 
by 865,000,000 in gold, or say $90,000,000 in cur- 
rency, per annum. This is the enormous cost we 
pay for democratic threats oi repudiation. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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